Weekly Journal 7

 Kaitlyn Gonzalez 

Weekly Journal 7

GIS-4636-091

October 21, 2020


    Yoga is seen as a healing practice in my practice space because I make it that way, I believe. As said in previous journal entries, I make sure that my space is ready when I go to do my practice. I make sure that I am in a place that doesn't have a lot of noise, and a place where I am able to practice without sound. Sometimes I will open up a window to make sure that there is some fresh air that is coming into my room. Another thing that is important to me when it comes to my practice space is a scent as well. Often I will have incense or a candle burning, to add to the environment of my practice space. To me, that is seen as healing. The things that I put in the room make it a healing practice space for me. When I see those things in my room when I am about to practice, it reminds me of what I am here to practice for. I practice in order to ground myself and connect with my body more. Lastly, I think that the most important part that makes Yoga seen as a healing practice is the end of yoga. When we are laying in the final pose, Savasana, I feel as though that is when the healing properties come in for me. I am able to just lay there, and truly let my thoughts and every other stressor of the day just to pass me by. I know that a lot of people say this, but the end of a yoga class is my favorite part of it all. There is not another time that I truly feel more relaxed at then at that moment. When I did my first yoga class, doing the Savasana at the end of the practice is what made me realize that yoga is such a benefit within my life. It brought awareness to myself and I was able to realize what I could do to calm my anxieties, and how truly relaxed I could be if I focused on one thing. 

    There are many ways that yoga is communicated as a healing practice. Often times in classes teachers will emphasize the healing properties of yoga, and connecting more with oneself. Sometimes I've had teachers who almost give advice in a way, or quotes during, after, or the beginning of the practice. It was a good way to get connected with the teachers within the practice and make it seem more like a healing practice. I do believe that communicating yoga as a healing practice is part of the class practice. it is important that it is communicated so that people can better understand the properties of yoga and how it can help people. After doing yoga, I feel extremely relaxed. Like I said, I am able to let go of thoughts and what other stressors went on during the day. When I walk out of the class, I feel more relaxed and stretched.  I feel as though I am able to take on the day better if I do the yoga in the morning. On the other hand, if I do yoga at night, I am able to sleep better and throughout the night. 

    This week, I decided to focus on something different when practicing yoga. A few classes ago we talked about Charkas and their healing properties. I did a bit of research on how to supposedly connect with these Charkas through different types of activities. Looking around, I found a lot of videos on healing charka yoga, which I decided to try for my practice this week. I watched a video with Yoga with Kassandra. She explained the ways that we would be healing the Charkas and what poses we would be doing during our practice and how it would help heal our Charkas. I also liked the fact that we set an intention for our practice before we started, I think that this helped us keep a goal in mind when we were going through the practice, especially the harder poses.  This specific practice made me feel more rooted and grounded, and definitely made me feel the healing properties of yoga. I thought this was a different type of yoga to practice that was really interesting because it had a goal of healing the chakras throughout. This video was a little bit longer than the videos I've done before, and it wound up being an hour long. But I think that was a good practice for me to do, from what poses I could do with my ankle. 

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0rUiNEFifw

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